Chapter 11: Barren Mountain Foothills

Chapter 11: Barren Mountain Foothills Meanwhile, on their way back to the compound, Wang Shen glanced at Yao Zhi and asked, "Girl, tomorrow is the market day in the town. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Hearing this, Yao Zhi’s eyes lit up. She took several breaths before she asked, "Aunt Wang, what is market day? Can we buy something good there?"

Wang Shen nodded and said, "Once a month, the merchants from Mobei Kingdom and the grassland tribes will come to the border market and sell their goods. Some of them only accept barter, but the goods they bring are novel."

"If you don’t find anything interesting, you can just go there and take a look. It’s always good to broaden our horizons."

Yao Zhi nodded and thought of the exotic spices from the kingdom across the desert. If she could buy rare exotic items, she might be able to auction them on the platform and earn more money.

With this thought, she nodded and readily agreed. "Aunt Wang, what time does the market open?"

"The market will be open for three days, and it starts at seven in the morning. We can go before dawn. It will take three hours on foot to reach the border market," Wang Shen said with a smile.

The moment she heard that she had to walk so far, Yao Zhi suddenly lost half of her excitement. But thinking about the points she could earn, she gritted her teeth and said, "Okay."

Seeing that she was willing to go, Wang Shen was happy. This was not the first time she had invited Yao Zhi to the market, but every time she invited her, Yao Zhi would refuse, saying that it was too far and she didn’t want to walk for hours.

Thinking about the amount of fat Yao Zhi could lose if she walked for hours, Wang Shen smiled and said, "Then, I will come to your house after breakfast."

"Alright!"

The two of them chatted while walking, and without realizing it, Yao Zhi had already reached her house. Not long after, Wang Shen returned with the medicine she bought in the town and handed them to her.

After she was alone, Yao Zhi drew some well water and washed her feet, arms, and face before she felt refreshed.

Looking at the bright sun, she couldn’t help but mutter, "The sun is too toxic. If this continues, I will get heatstroke."

At this hot temperature, it would be nice to have something cooling. Thinking about the system, she went to the kitchen and opened the shop.

After scrolling for a while, she bought five hundred grams of mung beans for two coins and two kilograms of glutinous rice for three coins.

The next moment, a bag of mung beans appeared in her shop’s warehouse. She clicked on the icon and said, "This is so convenient."

Since she didn’t know if mung beans existed in this place, she only dared to grab a handful and put them in a bowl before storing the rest in the warehouse. To thicken the soup, she added a spoonful of glutinous rice.

After she washed the mung beans and glutinous rice, Yao Zhi cooked the soup on medium heat for an hour until the mung beans softened and the rice bloomed. Then, she added some sugar to give it a hint of sweetness.

When she was done, she poured the mung bean soup into an earthen jar and cooled it in the well before going to wipe her body.

While she waited for the mung bean soup to cool down, she sat on the bed, opened the auction platform and checked the bronze coins. Perhaps due to the number of coins, she couldn’t fetch a good price. Each coin only sold for 1,100 points.

Before she even started her plan of buying silver and selling bronze coins, she had already faced reality: the market price would drop if supply exceeded demand.

Even though the price was not high, she sold all the coins and earned 28,600 points. After deducting the points used to buy supplies, she still owned a total of 29,828 points.

After collecting the points, Yao Zhi rubbed her fleshy double chin and said in a low voice, "Since I can’t flood the market with bronze coins, I have to find another way to earn points."

She would have to check the border market tomorrow and see if she could get something good. But for now, she wanted to check the mountain. From what her husband said, it seemed that there were medicinal herbs in the mountains.

She had already seen the price of wild medicinal herbs in the shop. She could sell the ordinary herbs in the shop and auction the rare wild herbs. This way, she still had a way to earn points.

Yao Zhi made up her mind and went to get a bamboo basket, a hoe, and a scythe.

In this era, ironware was strictly controlled by the government. Every item made of iron was registered with the county magistrate.

So, for her family to own so many iron tools already showed how capable Fu Chen’an was. Unfortunately, Yao Zhi was not someone born in this era and didn’t understand how valuable the iron tools were.

Before leaving, she packed up the mung bean soup into a gourd and stored it in her shop’s warehouse. After locking the door, she went to the mountain through the backyard.

At first, Yao Zhi thought that the mountain would look similar to the one she had visited before in her previous life. But when she reached the foot of the mountain, she was stunned by the scene in front of her.

Not only was the grass yellow and dried, but the soil was also hard and cracked. There were only several patches of stubborn weeds scattered across the area.

Looking at the desolate condition, she was doubtful. "With how bad the drought is, will there be any medicinal herbs in the mountain?" she muttered to herself.